Saturday 13 June 2009 19.01 EDT
First published on Saturday 13 June 2009 19.01 EDT

At 6am on 21 September 1809, two men met on Putney Heath in London to fight a duel. Four shots were fired and one of the protagonists was hit in the thigh. Political duels were not uncommon at the time, but what made this one remarkable was the fact that the two men concerned, Lord Castlereagh and George Canning, were respectively the secretary of state for war and foreign secretary. Their exchange of fire took place at the height of the war against Napoleon and these were the two ministers primarily responsible for its conduct. By comparison, today's political rivalries, which tend to be fought out in the pages of the tabloids by rival teams of spin doctors, are pretty tame.

John Campbell, author of several distinguished political biographies, here recounts eight political feuds and in doing so brings to life much of the political history of the last 200 years. The book is a joy to read: meticulously researched, beautifully written and scrupulously fair. He begins with William Pitt and Charles James Fox and ends with Blair and Brown and to those who protest that politics is about ideas rather than personalities, Campbell responds: "Ideas prosper only through the flawed men and women who champion them."

It is only fair to acknowledge that most of the protagonists whose stories are recounted have substantial achievements to their name, even those who appear at first glance to be outright losers. This, for example, is Campbell's verdict on Fox, who during his lifetime had rings run around him by Pitt: "By his eloquent support for all those lost causes - religious toleration, freedom of speech, habeas corpus, parliamentary reform, the enlightened government of India, even freedom for Ireland - he made his name as an enduring symbol of resistance to oppressive government and posthumously became a hero of Victorian liberalism."

And this on Disraeli, the man who helped split the Tory party over the Corn Laws (which, for entirely cynical reasons, he supported): "His shrewd fusion of working-class patriotism with 'One Nation' paternalism made the Tories the natural party of government for decades to come."

Edward Heath, although clearly coming off worst at the hands of Margaret Thatcher, will be remembered for having taken Britain into the European Union, an achievement that may in the long run be more enduring than hers.

It pains me to say one of the most monstrous egos encountered here is that of Nye Bevan, who also happens to be one of the greatest heroes in the Labour pantheon. He will be remembered for presiding over the foundation of the National Health Service, but, as Campbell describes, Bevan's self-indulgence played a significant part in bringing down the 1951 Labour government, ushering in 13 years of Tory rule.

The final chapter, the story of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, is still being played out, though the end is surely now in sight. Says Campbell: "The story of Brown and Blair bears out more cruelly than any other Lloyd George's bleak dictum that 'there is no friendship at the top'."

We must await the unexpurgated diaries of that other Campbell - Alastair - to discover the full extent of the damage caused by the fissure at the heart of New Labour, but all the signs are that it was somewhat greater than anyone has so far imagined.

• Chris Mullin is the MP for Sunderland South. His diaries, A View From the Foothills, were recently published by Profile.